St. Thomas clashes with Memorial

Saturday

Feb 1, 2014 at 8:19 PMFeb 1, 2014 at 8:19 PM

By John Doylejdoyle@fosters.com

DOVER — The fourth line on the St. Thomas Aquinas High School boys hockey team is called the “energy line.” It provided all the energy the Saints needed in the third period to put distance between themselves and defending Division I champion Manchester Memorial on Saturday afternoon.

Michael Strabone and Greg Proulx of the “energy line” scored in the final frame to help St. Thomas to a 6-2 win at Dover Arena, avenging a heartbreaking loss to the Crusaders in last year’s semifinals.

“This was definitely a bigger game,” said Proulx. “(We) don’t get too many shifts, so you have to take advantage of them when we do.”

Six different players scored for the Saints (9-2-1), who turned a tight game after two periods into a rout with three goals in the third. St. Thomas has won eight of its last nine games.

“This league is pretty competitive, so I ride my first two and three (lines) quite a bit,” St. Thomas coach Andrew Leach said. “But they come out and practice just as hard and deserve it just as much as the other guys and I definitely wanted to get them out there today. (The) whole team is pretty pumped up when they get out there.”

Memorial was a 4-3 overtime winner the last time the two teams met, in the 2013 D-I semifinals in Manchester. St. Thomas led 3-0 in that game going into the third period. Memorial went on to defeat crosstown rival Central in the D-I final.

“We owed them,” said St. Thomas senior defenseman Niall Foster, who finished with a goal and an assist. “We wanted to get the win. We knew we didn’t want to get into a dogfight.”

St. Thomas goalie Zane Angelopoulos made 30 saves. Ryan Benedetto had two assists.

Aaron Garrison struck for the first goal of the game with just six seconds to go in the opening period. Memorial got that goal back a little more than a minute into the middle frame, but St. Thomas was back on top seconds later with a goal from Foster.

The Saints took a 3-1 lead at 7:47 when Liam Ross caught Manchester goalie Brendan McKenzie napping and stuffed it under McKenzie’s left pad.

Memorial got that goal back when Brady Sufat caught Angelopoulos off guard with one second remaining on a power play at 9:11. St. Thomas took a 3-2 lead into the break.

Any hope the visitors had of another third-period rally was squelched early when Glenn Wiswell made it a 4-2 game just 1:49 into the stanza. The “energy line” then went to work as Strabone made it 5-2 at 5:43.

“They took it to us in the third period,” Memorial coach Tom Putney said. “We weren’t picking up sticks in the defensive zone and letting guys wheel around without putting bodies on them. Those little things will cost you games.”

Proulx put the exclamation point on the victory with his goal in the final minute.

“I know the kids had it on their mind,” Leach said about last year’s playoff loss. “Certainly they’d like to get the win this year.”

St. Thomas wore pink jerseys Saturday as part of a fundraiser for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

The same two teams meet again next Saturday in Manchester. In the meantime, the Saints are scheduled to entertain Exeter on Wednesday.